Welding on hydraulic cylinder rod eyelet

[JDeereman]

What special precautions, if any, need to be taken to put down a mig weld on the eyelet of a hydraulic cylinder rod? does the hydraulic cylinder need to be disconnected, drained and removed first? or can it be welded while in place? can the heat generated distort the rod? what is the best technique for damage-free grounding of the cylinder rod? anything else? thanks.

Theo

[zzvyb6]

Keep sparks off the chrome and heat away from the seals and fluid. I drain the cylinder before welding and have taken them apart to minimize heat damage.

Other than that, degreasing is important because the fluid is a contaminant. Paint, too.

[Wayne County Hose]

Depending on many factors, it may not hold. On any rod 1" and larger, I like to machine down the rod and bore the same size hole in the clevis. Then weld all the way around the rod and inside where the machined part of the rod goes into the clevis. You are better off removing the cylinder to get all the way around without stopping to turn the rod. Extend the rod all the way, hook the ground to the clevis, never to the rod or cylinder housing. Welding heat will not distort the rod. Do it once, do it right.

[Willis Fecon Bushhogging]

Originally Posted by JDeereman

What special precautions, if any, need to be taken to put down a mig weld on the eyelet of a hydraulic cylinder rod? does the hydraulic cylinder need to be disconnected, drained and removed first? or can it be welded while in place? can the heat generated distort the rod? what is the best technique for damage-free grounding of the cylinder rod? anything else? thanks.

Theo

Im not sure excatly what you are trying to do on the eyelet (put a new one on, or weld up a crack?) How big is the cylinder? If the cylinder has a long ram, I have put the cylinder in ice, to prevent the heat from transferring to the seals. Its always best to take it apart, but you might damage the seals then, anyway, so its a gamble. According to what size the ram is, depends on what welding method I would use. I prefer stick welding, on things that has stress. Unless you have a pretty good size mig welder, it may not hold the force.
If you are just building up the eyelet, then a mig should be OK, just protect everything.
Ive never done it, but if you are just going to weld a small amount, I guess you could leave it on the machine, just protect everything and keep feeling of the rod, where it goes in the cylinder, to make sure it doesnt get to hot. You could use a ice pack, or run water on it to keep it cool
Good Luck

[JDeereman]

I should have said that this is for the repair of an existing weld that I found cracked the other day. hard to describe without a photograph or sketch. more like a factory defect than a stress crack almost. maybe has been there for years I don't know but no way I want to go for a costly rebuild at this time. more for cosmetics and my peace of mind than anything else but only if safe to do this. should I tell the mig welder guy to forget it? should I find a tig welder guy instead?

Theo

[Wayne County Hose]

Most these are done at the factory with wire feed welders. Most important in this case, is to make certain everything is in near perfect alignment. The best weld in the world won't hold a cylinder eye that's crooked. If this is a professional welder, you will be just fine. I've done this many times and never had a problem. Just to be on the safe side, what's the rod length sticking out of the gland fully extended, and , what is the rod diameter? If it's a real short rod and small diameter, I would take more precautions to protect against heat. Otherwise, weld her up and get back to work.

[JDeereman]

Rod is fairly long and thick in diameter maybe one inch give or take. I used wrong term. damaged end is a crosstube not an eyelet sorry my mistake. welder guy is not a real pro but welds alot. I would call him an experienced amateur I guess. I can bring it to a real pro if necessary but would have to disconnect and remove cylinder to do so. can't do that right away.

Theo

[gerard]

Are you welding on the top of the rod that can extend all the way out or on the fat end that the rod slides in to?? I had an extenda hoe backhoe and the eyelet busted. I had a pro welder come out and he just had me extend the cylinder as far as it would go, then he wrapped a wet rag around the exposed cylinder and started welding away. He had me pour water over the rag as it would dry and that was enough to keep the shaft from heating up too much and frying the seals. If welding the other end, I would still do the same thing to keep from overheating the oil inside. You can also do it in small increments, letting things cool down in between though if you use that technique I'd tack the weld on all four sides first, then do a 90 deg area, then the opposite side, then fill in the last two 90 deg portions.

[JDeereman]

Defective/cracked weld is on top of the rod as you have described it. I can extend the rod all the way out if necessary. wet rag idea sounds good for cooling but I am still wondering which process mig or tig or ??? is less likely to damage rod.

Theo

[MJPetersen]

Extend it all the way out, wrap the rod with a wet rag (as has been stated) [make sure to cover all the rod that travels into the cylinder], grind out the "crack" and weld it with stick or Mig your call. Tig is not necessary. That part is not so important if the welder has enough power to weld the heavy material.

Mike